Chapter Two: Revelations and Reunions

"So what you're saying is that I'm a character in a Television show and a manga?" Ken asked Henry curiously as they made their way across Shinjuku Park.

"Yes, I watch you every day on TV," Henry said. "I never actually though I'd say that to you honestly. I had never even thought about the possibility of a parallel universe until I recognized Ryo Akiyama on TV."

"How do you know it was Ryo and not some other boy?" Ken voiced the question he had been wondering.

"I know Ryo Akiyama and that was him. It's strange because they only show his face once, just everything from behind."

"I see. Has Ryo ever mentioned me?" Ken asked.

"No, but I've never brought up the subject anyway, I'm sure he thinks about you a lot though," Henry reassured him. Ken suddenly felt awkward, being in a world where everything was different. Would things be the same between him and Ryo? He was unsure of what he should do. It showed on his face and Henry noticed.

"Something on your mind?" Henry asked.

"I'm not sure what I should do," Ken said, "I've been searching for Ryo for so long, I never actually thought about what I would do when I found him."

"Eh, Momentai," Henry laughed, slapping him on the back. "You just act like yourself. I'm sure Ryo will be happy to see you."

"I wish I had your confidence," Ken sighed. "Momentai…Isn't that a Cantonese phrase for "Take it easy" or "No problem"?"

"Yes, I'm not surprised you know, considering you're a genius and all," Henry said. "We better get back to my house. My family will want to meet you and Mr. Yamaki will want to know what's going on."

"Mr. Yamaki?" Ken had never heard of him before. "Who's he?"

"He's a man who works for the government and keeps track of Digimon who Bio-Emerge into the Real World."

"Bio-Emerge? DarkLizardmon said she wanted to go to the Real World when Stingmon and I defeated her, is that how they get here?"

"Yes, the data of the Digimon on the net will synthesize their proteins and "Bio-emerge" from the Digital World into the Real World, coming mainly though the Hypnos computer system."

"Isn't Hypnos also the Greek god of Sleep?" Ken asked.

"Yes, but here, it's a government organization who keeps track of Digimon on the network."

"And Mr. Yamaki, does he work for this Hypnos?"

"Yes, he does, he tried to delete the Digimon from the Real World but then he realized that there were Digimon who were actually good and helped us to defeat the D-Reaper."

"The D-Reaper. Grani mentioned the D-Reaper. It's some kind of computer program isn't it?" Ken was interested in this. He was a master computer programmer and yet he'd never heard of any program called the "D-Reaper".

"Well the D-Reaper was created by the American Department of Defenses' SIGINT system, ECHELON, and was designed to delete excess data and manage artificial intelligence."

"I see. It makes sense why the D-Reaper would attack Digimon because they can change and Digivolve, and it would come after us because mankind has evolved too." Ken said. "How much of the Digital World did the D-Reaper delete before it was destroyed by you Tamers?"

About half of it, wait—who told you I was a Tamer?!" Henry asked, shocked. He wasn't expecting Ken to know that about him. He hadn't even mentioned it.

"Grani told me about a boy named Takato and that he was the leader of the Tamers. He also said I would know who the Tamers were because they would have partners. It's obvious you're a Tamer, because you have Terriermon. I don't see other kids running around with Digimon around here, so you must be one of the other Tamers. Grani also said that that is what you Digidestined call yourselves."

"Ken, are you sure it was Grani that brought you to the Real World?" Henry asked.

"Yes, I'm certain of it. He said that he was created by humans as an Ark and helped you all defeat the D-Reaper," Ken replied.

"That's right, but Grani gave Gallantmon his wings and then he disintegrated. So how did he manage to return to the Digital World?" Henry wondered aloud.

"I'm not sure but he survived somehow. He also said something that didn't make sense to me."

"What did he say to you?" Henry inquired.

"He said he's been a Digimon longer than even his human creators know," Ken replied.

"But how, he was created by Mr. McCoy…but how could he have been a Digimon before that?"

"I honestly don't know. This world is so different from my own. It boggles my mind that humans actually created Digimon and that they fight here in the Real World. I mean I 'created' Kimeramon, but he was a mixture of different Digimon, and not like Grani."

"Yeah. By the way we're here," Henry said. He led Ken to his house and knocked on the door.

Ken saw the door open and a middle aged man stood in the entrance.

"Henry, you're back, I—" Janyu stopped short when he saw Ken Ichijouji standing beside Henry. "I don't believe it! Is that—?"

"Ken Ichijouji, sir," Ken said, introducing himself. Janyu stared at him intently, hardly believing his eyes.

"Ken, so you're the one who bio-emerged here!" Janyu exclaimed. "Please, come in. We have a lot to talk about."

Ken made his way into the Wongs' apartment and took off his shoes.

Rinchei and Jaarin were doing homework, while Mayumi was busy cooking dinner.

"Let me introduce you to my family, Ken," Janyu said. "Hey, Rinchei, Jaarin, Suzie; Mayumi! We have company! Please come into the living room."

Rinchei, Jaarin, Suzie, and Mayumi made their way into the living room. At the sight of Ken, Rinchei and Jaarin went wide-eyed. They weren't exactly fans of Digimon like Henry but they had watched the show enough to know who Ken Ichijouji was.

Mayumi Wong smiled. "Well hello there, who are you?"

"You're Ken Ichijouji, aren't you?" Rinchei asked. "How'd you get here?"

"I haven't actually got to ask him that," Janyu said. "Ken this is my son Rinchei, my daughter Jaarin, and my wife, Mayumi Wong."

Just then, Suzie entered the room with Lopmon at her side.

"Henry!" a little girl exclaimed, jumping up and down. "You brought home Ken Ichijouji. He's not all mean is he? He's not the big bad Digimon Emperor is he?"

"Don't worry, Suzie, he's just fine. He's not the Digimon Emperor anymore. He's one of the Digidestined."

"Oh, okay, He's cute, doesn't Yolie like him?"

"Stop badgering him with questions, you're embarrassing him!" Henry scolded as Ken turned a bright shade of red at the mentioning of Yolie Inoue, who, at one time as far as Ken knew, did have a crush on him. He had no idea if she still did or not. Still, it was embarrassing to have it mentioned so casually by a little girl who he had never met before.

"It's nice to meet all of you," Ken said.

"Well, you arrived just in time," Mayumi said. "We were just about to sit down to supper."

"Uh, Dad, do you think Ken could stay with us, at least until we can figure out how to send him back to his dimension."

"Of course, and we have to tell Mr. Yamaki what's going on. If word got out that Ken Ichijouji is here, it will cause a lot of fans of the show to mob him; then we'd never be able to figure out how to send him home."

"Actually, there is a reason I tried to come to this dimension," Ken said.

"Ryo Akiyama," Henry interrupted. "You were looking for Ryo Akiyama."

"You know Ryo Akiyama?" Janyu asked. "Then that means he's from your dimension." Janyu rubbed his temple. "Now we have to keep it a secret as much as we can. If words got out there are two people here from the Digimon Adventure dimension, we'd have tons of kids and possibly adults trying to cross over to the other dimension."

"Uh, Digimon Adventure, what's that?" Ken asked.

"Oh, that's the name of the TV show you're in," Henry explained. "It's how we know who you are."

"I see. Mr. Wong, is it true that you created the Digimon?" Ken asked. "Henry told me that you worked on computer programs that eventually became the Digimon."

"Yes, that's true, me and my friends worked on those programs in the 1980s but the government shut it down before we even got to finish it. We were very disappointed but then we decided to turn some of our work into the programs that became the Digimon TV show, anime and card game. We had no clue they had evolved into Digimon until they started coming to the Real World."

"As interesting as this is, Janyu, why don't you continue this conversation with Ken over dinner, the food is ready."

They made their way into the kitchen and sat down.

"Enjoy the dinner," Mayumi said, placing down the rice, vegetables, and sour crout.

During dinner Ken explained how he had crossed over into their dimension. He also explained how he knew Ryo and although he couldn't remember all of his earlier adventures, he told them what he could recall and Henry nodded.

"It's just like those Wonderswan games I have," Henry said after he finished swallowing his food. "Maybe if you play them it'll help you remember what else happened to you."

"Maybe, but I never thought that a videogame could actually help me," Ken said, pondering the idea. "It's worth a shot, since you just said yourself my story is just like this game you have."

"I'd be happy to help, and I'm sure Takato, Rika, and the others will want to help you, especially Ryo."

"And speaking of Ryo, when will I get to see him?" Ken asked.

"You'll get to see him tomorrow. There's a big Digimon Card Game Tournament, the Digimon Grand Prix, we call it. The winner of the contest is proclaimed the best Digimon Card Player in all of Japan. A friend of mine, Rika, she won it last year. Ryo beat her the year before and she resented him for it."

Ken laughed. "I figured he would. He's the one random element that makes the impossible possible, at least that's what I remember. This Rika girl, she's a friend yours. Is she a friend of Ryo's too?"

"They are friends, but it's more of a rivalry. After Rika won the tournament, people began to call her the "Digimon Queen", and they called Ryo the "Digimon King". It really irked Rika that there was someone who was a better Digimon card player better than she was. She thought she always had to be the best."

"That sounds a lot like me, except I refused to have any friends. I always thought everyone was beneath me," Ken sighed. "It's ironic, isn't it?"

"What is?" Janyu asked, curious.

"That the Digimon King and the Digimon Emperor are best friends. That we could walk down similar paths but take two different roads. I saved his life and in turn, fell from grace while he went off to save another world. And despite being gone from my life he still saved me. It was my fleeting memories of him and Wormmon that helped me find my heart after all the terrible things I did. I never thought I'd see him again but now that I've found him…I've never been happier in my life."

"Ryo was your best friend," Henry said, "Does anyone else in that dimension remember him?"

"Yes, but they've had him declared dead since then. No one's been able to find him. It's one of the reasons I want to become a private investigator, I wanted to use those skills to search for Ryo."

"Ah, that's a good thing to be, people always need help from others," Janyu said.

"Yes, it is," Ken replied. "There was something I wanted to ask you about this Digimon Card Game of yours."

"What is it you want to know?" Henry asked.

"Would you teach me how to play?" Ken asked. "It wouldn't be right for me to go to a Digimon Grand Prix and not know how to play."

"But if you sign up and put your real name down, they'll all wonder if you're the real Ken Ichijouji," Janyu protested.

"I wonder; can you enter this contest anonymously?" Ken asked.

"I think so, but I don't think anyone's ever done it before," Henry said, frowning.

"We could try it," Ken said.

"Yeah, we could," Henry smiled.

"Now this is all well and good, Henry, but you can't forget to do your homework," Janyu said sternly.

"Don't worry, sir, I'll help Henry with his homework. Besides, I think it'd be kind of interesting to see what they give for homework in another dimension."

"Well, where there's homework, the nerds gather," Henry laughed.

"I am not a nerd!" Ken and Janyu protested in unison.

"You're both computer programmers, so yes you're both nerdy, but you'll never admit it because you two are too smart for that."

"Enough with the nerd jokes, we've got to go see Yamaki and tell him what's going on," Janyu said. They finished eating and got into the family car.

They drove to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, where they headed inside as Ken swallowed nervously. What did the government want with him and Wormmon? What were they going to do with him? Would he become a lab experiment or worse would they think that he was insane and place him in an asylum?

Janyu, Henry and Ken all made their way to the room where the Hypnos computer system was located.

Ken looked up in awe at the vast room before him. There were two platforms, resembling cranes located high above him; he saw two women sitting atop them entering commands into keyboards as an enormous map of Shinjuku filled a vast video screen.

Ken immediately noticed a man sitting in a chair staring up at all this with an impassive expression on his face. He had blond hair and resembled T.K. in an eerie, disturbing kind of way. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses, which seemed ironic to Ken considering the fact that they were in a dimly lit room.

Ken's ears heard a distinctive click, click; click. Ken turned, looking for the source of the noise. It was metallic in nature and he realized it came from the Zippo in the man's hand.

"Mr. Yamaki," Janyu greeted the man respectfully. The man turned his gaze on them and looked at Ken with barely noticed curiosity.

"Did you find the anomaly?" Mitsuyo asked, keeping his voice even.

"Yes; and that "anomaly" has a name. This is Ken Ichijouji and his Digimon partner Wormmon."

"How is it that a human can Bio-emerge into the Real World from the Digital World without your Ark, Janyu?"

"Ken explained that Grani brought him to the Real World, but I don't understand how Grani survived his battle with the D-Reaper."

"I don't either Janyu, I'll have Dolphin and the other Monster Makers look into it right away." Yamaki turned his attention to Ken. "Where are you from Mr. Ken Ichijouji?"

"I live in Tamachi, in an alternate dimension, Mr. Yamaki, sir," Ken said, respectfully.

"An alternate dimension? What do you mean by that?" Yamaki shut his Zippo again. Ken had to wonder if the grating sound was annoying anyone besides him.

"Yamaki, in this dimension, Ken Ichijouji is a fictional character in the Digimon anime and manga that the children buy and play the Card Game that the show is based on."

"I see. We'll need to keep him hidden away. Then we'll figure out how to send him back to his own dimension. But we can't let the public know about this. We'd have people trying to escape to this Digital World and colonize it into some sort of tourist paradise. And from what I know about this Digital World it's not a very human friendly place."

"But Yamaki, we can't just lock Ken away somewhere and not expect anyone to find him," Janyu said.

"Alright then, keep a low profile, Mr. Ichijouji. The last thing I want to see is your face on the evening news. Don't get yourself into trouble, little boy. And keep that Digimon of yours on a tight leash. The last thing I want to see is another destroyed building. Henry, inform Takato and the other children about what's going on and tell them to keep Mr. Ichijouji here a secret."

"Thank you, sir," Ken said politely. Janyu led to two boys out of the room. Once the doors were closed, Ken let out a sigh of relief.

"That went well," he said. "I thought he'd lock me away in an insane asylum."

"He took it better than I expected," Janyu said. "Now at least we can go home, and Henry, you still need to finish your homework."

"Okay, Dad, I'll finish it when we get home," Henry replied. They drove back to the apartment and Henry and Ken headed to his room.

Ken saw Terriermon standing in Henry's room playing the Playstation 2 and Wormmon was watching him. He was hitting buttons with his small hands and Ken looked up at the screen to see Final Fantasy X on the TV.

"You guys have Final Fantasy here?" he asked.

"Who doesn't? The best games for the PS2 are all Final Fantasy," Henry said. "Hey Terriermon, how far are you in the game?"

"I'm at the part where you have to beat Sin before its mouth opens all the way and I just can't beat it!" Terriermon shouted in frustration.

"Just use Quick Hit and Hasteaga when you get close to him," Ken said. "And don't call the Aeons. They'll just waste your turns."

"Man you're smart," Terriermon muttered, turning his attention to the game.

"How'd you get into these games anyway?" Henry asked.

"Izzy Izumi," Ken replied. "These are the only videogames he'll play, he says, "They actually require thinking, unlike most videogames which just involve shooting people." I like them too, they have good stories."

"I guess Final Fantasy is an interdimensional fad," Henry laughed. "Terriermon, could you turn that down? We're trying to do homework here."

"Okay," Terriermon said, turning the volume down. Ken helped Henry finish his homework in a half an hour. Henry was very impressed, even without the Dark Spore, Ken was still brilliant, although it was a fraction of what he had been able to accomplish under the Dark Spore's influence he was still considered a genius on many levels.

"I can't believe you helped me finish all this homework in a half an hour," Henry said. "Now, all I have to do is finish proofreading my report on The Fall of the House of Usher." Henry printed off his report and read over it.

"Here, you look at it, I can't find anything wrong with it," Henry handed it to Ken. Ken read over it and smiled. Henry was very smart, he'd say that Henry had to be nearly as smart as himself as he was now, although he had excelled more when he was the Digimon Emperor, Ken still had a high I.Q.

Ken made a few small corrections and handed Henry back his paper.

"You're very good, how do you do in school?" Ken asked.

"Good, I get above average grades," Henry said. He made the changes to his report and reprinted it. "At least that's over with."

"Now that the work's done, let me show you how to play the game," Henry said, pulling an extra deck of the Digimon card game off the shelf. He handed Ken the deck.

"Ah, interesting…" Ken said, sorting through the various cards. He noticed they had Augumon, Greymon, MetalGreymon, and WarGreymon cards. They also had "Digi-Modify" cards which he didn't quite understand.

"So how do these "Digi-Modify" cards work anyway?" Ken asked.

Well, the Modify cards have different attributes, like speed, or power. Some of them have other Digimon's attacks, like this one here," Henry held up Modify Card. "This one's Frigimon's Sub-Zero Ice Punch."

"So if I played, say Patamon, I could modify him with Digimon's Drill and he could use it as a weapon," Ken said. The game made sense.

"Sure you could, but that doesn't mean it'd be a better part of strategy," Henry said, as he went on to explain the concept of combos and how the right one could give you the edge without having to play a Digivolution card.

"I see, well, let's play a few games so I can get a feel for this," Ken said. They proceeded to do just that.

The Next Day…

"Dad, what should we do with Ken while I'm at school? I can't exactly take him with me, he'd be mobbed by fans and screaming girls."

"Uh—screaming girls?" Ken gulped nervously.

"Oh, yes, there are plenty of girls who absolutely adore Ken Ichijouji, despite being a fictional character. As far as cuteness goes it's a three way tie between you, Davis and Tai Kamiya."

"Oh, I see, wait a minute, how did Davis end up being cuter than me?" Ken asked.

"I have no idea," Henry admitted. "I'm trying to think of a place where you could stay where no one would notice you."

"How about Shinjuku Park," Janyu suggested. "He can stay in Guilmon's hideout until after school. Then Ken could spend time with Guilmon and learn about how things are around here."

"Okay," Henry said. After they ate breakfast, they headed out to Shinjuku Park where Guilmon's hideout was.

"Guilmon, you in here?" Henry called out.

"Henry, is that you? I thought you were Takato bringing bread," Guilmon said, happily bounding out to greet Henry. He came to a stop when he saw Ken Ichijouji.

"Henry is that the real Ken Ichijouji?" Guilmon asked.

"See for yourself," Henry laughed. Guilmon came up and tentatively sniffed Ken's hand.

"He's the real Ken Ichijouji, I can smell Wormmon!" Guilmon said, circling Ken. "He looks just like he does on TV."

"He watches it too?" Ken wondered if there was anyone who didn't know who he was besides Yamaki.

"Yes, I do sometimes with Takato, but I'd rather eat bread!" Guilmon bounced around. "Did you bring me any bread Henry? Or peanut butter! I love peanut butter!"

"Did someone say my name?" Wormmon asked, waking from sleep. "Oh, who are you?"

"I'm Guilmon," Guilmon said, smiling.

"Guilmon, you're a champion level Digimon, aren't you?" Ken asked. Judging from the size of him, he had to be a champion level Digimon.

"No, I'm a rookie," Guilmon replied. "Growlmon is my champion form."

"You're a rookie?" Ken asked. "You can't be a rookie; you're so large; you have to be a champion."

"No, Ken, he's a rookie," Henry laughed. "I think he's one of the biggest rookie Digimon out there. Considering the fact that Takato created him, well, he's pretty special."

"Wait—you said Takato created him? How?" Ken asked. "How could he create a Digimon?"

"One day, Takato drew a picture of him and then he found a Blue Card in his deck. This Blue Card. It's not made in the stores and it has the ability to Bio-emerge into the Real World. Takato scanned his pictures of Guilmon into the Blue Card that became his Digivice and then Guilmon appeared in the Real World. Only the Digimon Tamers, what you would call Digidestined, get them."

"Thank you for telling me," Ken said. "I best let you go; you need to get to school."

"Here," Henry said, tossing Ken a Wonderswan game system. "Take these, to keep you occupied. I heard your quite the accomplished gamer. Anode/Cathode Tamer should keep you interested in because it has to do with Ryo, and the other one, Digimon Adventure 02: Tag Tamers, is about your adventures with Ryo when you went to the Digital World."

"Thanks," Ken said, he was about to join Guilmon inside the hideout when he saw a boy dressed in a blue shirt and gray pants come running up. Ken immediately knew this had to be Takato because of he was sporting the Goggles that were a running trend with all the leaders of the Digidestined. First, Tai, then Davis, now a new boy in another dimension wore them too.

"Henry, hey what are you doing here—" he spotted Ken and his mouth dropped so far that the Boy Genius thought that he would dislocate it.

"Ken Ichijouji?! How'd he get here? Is he the thing that Bio-merged here?"

"Yes," Henry said. "I apologize for his shock. Takato, meet Ken Ichijouji in the flesh."

Ken walked over to him and shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Takato."

"Thanks," Takato said. "Hey Guilmon, I brought you breakfast!"

Guilmon bounded out and Takato tossed him his bread and he caught it with his two claws.

"Bread! Yummy, yummy bread!" Guilmon squealed and promptly began eating.

"Man, Ken, there's so much we gotta talk about—" Takato began.

"But you both'll have to do it after school. And you have to keep this a secret. Come one, we're going to be late!" Henry said as he broke into a run.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Takato said as he hurried to join Henry. "We'll talk later, Ken!"

"Bye!" Ken said, waving. He joined Guilmon inside the hut and spotted Wormmon eating bread that Guilmon eagerly shared with the smaller Digimon.

Ken turned on the Wonderswan game and began to play Anode/Cathode Tamers. He found himself enjoying the game, wondering through the Digital World as Ryo Akiyama. He was interested in the fact that Ryo was paired up with Augumon. Ken beat the game in a few hours while Wormmon and Guilmon played inside the hideout. Guilmon kept bouncing Wormmon up and down on his tail as the small Digimon flew up into the air.

He then put in Digimon Adventure 02: Tag Tamers and played the game watching his adventures in the Digital World unfold before his eyes. He could remember some of the events that took place during the game, but some things were still fuzzy.

Later he checked his watch and realized it was time for lunch. He had packed a lunch and brought it with him before he left the Wongs house. Eating, he decided to get up and stretch his legs.

"Hey Guilmon, have you always lived here in the Real World?" Ken asked.

"Yes, Takato and I have lots of adventures together. I don't remember anything before I bio-emerged into the Real World."

"Could you tell me how you guys beat the D-Reaper?" Ken asked. "I never got the rest of the story from Henry."

"The D-Reaper followed us home after we went to the Digital World to save Calumon. The D-Reaper wanted to delete everything so Takato, Henry and Rika and Renamon and Terriermon and I all battled the D-Reaper. We couldn't bio-merge like we did in the Digital World so we all Digivolved to our Ultimate forms, Taomon, Rapidmon and WarGrowlmon and tried to fight it, but would couldn't beat it."

Guilmon ate a little more bread as Ken and Wormmon listened intently.

Guilmon told Ken about Alice and Dobermon and how he gave up his life force so they could Bio-merge to their Mega forms, Gallantmon, Sakuyamon and MegaGargomon. He told Ken how they defeated the D-Reaper and how Grani had played an important role in helping Gallantmon become Gallantmon Crimson mode. He was very sad when he told Ken about how the Digimon had to go back to the Digital World.

"Guilmon, you said that this Digimon Calumon was very important, why?" Ken asked. He'd never heard of a Calumon before.

"Calumon is the power of Digivolution in the form of a Digimon," Guilmon explained. "Digimon Sovereign Azulongmon hid the power of Digivolution inside Calumon to hide it from the D-Reaper who was drawn to the power to Digivolve."

"Calumon is a Digimon, but he causes Digivolution." The concept was unheard of, but the rules of his dimension did not apply here. It was still an amazing discovery. "Does he still have that power?"

"He released it back into the Digital World after Azulongmon asked him to." Guilmon looked thoughtful. "He never likes to fight, he just wants to play."

Guilmon had just finished his story when Takato and Henry came running up.

"Hey Ken, we brought you some food in case you got hungry. Hurry up and eat we have to go to the toy store real fast."

"Why do we need to go to a toy store?" Ken asked.

"Simple," Henry replied. "Takato and I are buying you a Digimon Card Game deck for the Tournament." They sat down inside the hideout. Ken smiled. This was going to be fun.

Ryo Akiyama woke up and got ready for school. Today was a day he had been looking forward to for a long time. It was the day of the Digimon Grand Prix, and Ryo was ready to play. It would be fun and challenging. But there was something about today that made Ryo feel even happier, but he couldn't say what it was. It was just a feeling, an overjoyed, euphoric emotion and he couldn't help but feel that today was going to be a very good day.

School was a drag as always. Ryo finished all his schoolwork and made sure he had his Digimon cards with him as he headed out the school door and toward downtown where they were having the Digimon Grand Prix Tournament.

Walking into the convention center, Ryo spotted Kazu and Kenta talking together.

"Hey Ryo! "Kenta called out. "You ready?"

"You better believe it!" Ryo replied.

Henry and Takato were standing together. Ken had run off to go sign up since he hadn't signed up early like the other Tamers so Ryo didn't see him.

"Hey Ryo, how are you?" Takato asked.

"I'm fine," Ryo replied. "Have any of you seen Rika?"

"I'm right here, Pretty Boy," Rika smirked, crossing her arms. "You didn't expect me to not show up did you?"

"Of course not," Ryo replied, smiling. "Rika, good luck today."

"You just better you get lucky, Ryo. I am going to win this time."

"I don't intend to give away my position in first place easily, Pumpkin," Ryo said. "We'll just have to see what happens."

"Humph," Rika muttered, stomping off.

"Well, I better get to my table," Ryo said. "The Tournament is about to start."

Ken sat down at a table and waited to begin. After preliminary greetings by an announcer, the contestants were picked at complete random and they began to play. The rounds didn't last long, ten minutes each at the most. Within a few hours they were narrowed down to the top 20. Takato had improved a lot since the last year's tournament and was proud of himself for ending up in 18th place with Kazu and Kenta in 19th and 20th. Ken had done extraordinarily well and was placed at 5th, with Henry at 4th after Henry had soundly defeated him with his Terriermon deck. Rika had beaten Henry and some nameless boy Ken had watched.

Ken watched Ryo face off with Rika as they began laying down their cards. Just seeing his friend brought all those memories of their adventures together. He tried to hide his smile as Ryo placed down his Goliath Card.

"Ryo Akiyama is once again the champion of the Digimon Grand Prix!" the announcer said. Rika glowered but Ryo smiled.

"It was a good game," Ryo congratulated.

"You were lucky again," Rika muttered.

Ken walked over to Takato and Henry. They both regarded him with a smile.

"Hey, you did good, 5th place is not bad," Henry congratulated.

"Thanks," Ken replied.

"You know, we were gonna meet at Guilmon's hideout to celebrate," Takato said. "If you beat us back there, you'd be a great surprise for Ryo."

"Okay," Ken said, he ducked out the front door before anyone noticed him.

"Hey Ryo, let's head over to Guilmon's hideout," Takato suggested. "I have all the celebration food inside."

"Hopefully, Guilmon didn't eat it all," Terriermon piped up. Everybody laughed.

They all headed to Shinjuku Park to the secluded little shed where Guilmon lived. Ryo walked in when he saw a boy sitting inside the hut. Ryo wondered who he was. He looked….familiar.

"Hello Ryo," Ken said, politely as Ryo entered Guilmon's hideout. Ryo knew that voice from somewhere. He knew it was the same boy from the Tournament and he had watched as Henry had beaten him using Terriermon as his choice for a Digimon. Ryo noticed that the boy had picked Wormmon as his choice to play with, which was odd, despite Wormmon being a popular Digimon in the Anime he was not a popular Digimon in the card game.

"What are you doing here; did you come all this way to meet me? If you did I'm really flattered." Ryo tried to get a better look at the young teens face but he couldn't see him in the dim light, and he was wearing sunglasses too.

"I came because I wanted to play against you, and see if you're really the best Digimon Card Player there is," Ken said, keeping his voice low enough that he wouldn't be recognized.

"This is just a friendly competition, right?" Ryo asked.

"Yeah," Ken said. "We used to play lots of games together."

Ryo gave him a funny look. "Huh?"

"Nothing, never mind," Ken said quickly. "Winner's first." He waited for Ryo to lay down his cards.

Ken had gone through his entire deck and he had found the one thing he never dreamed existed in the card game: Millenniummon. He knew about the Wonderswan games but he'd never thought they had made a card of him. He had asked Henry how rare they were, and Henry said they were really rare because Millenniummon was such a popular Digimon.

He wondered if he should play the Millenniummon card when he saw Ryo lay down a Monodramon Card.

"This is a long shot," Ken said, laying down DemiDevimon.

"Speed Activate," Ryo said, laying the Digi-Modify card down.

"DemiDevimon Warp Digivolve to Kimeramon," Ken put down the Warp Digivolve card and Ryo raised an eyebrow.

"You should have played like this during the tournament, why do all this now?" Roy was trying to put the face with the voice. He knew this kid…from somewhere.

"I only play this way for you, after all, we are best friends," Ken smiled.

"I know you, don't I?" Ryo said. The teenager's face was so familiar. His eyes, if he could see his eyes he might recognize him.

"Care to take off the sunglasses?" Ryo asked.

"After the game," Ken said.

"Monodramon Warp Digivolve to Cyberdramon," Ryo smiled, this kid was giving him a good fight.

"Kimeramon DNA Digivolve with Machinedramon to…" Ken said, laying down two cards, one a DNA Digivolution card and the other a Machinedramon card, "Millenniummon."

Ryo dropped his cards, staring in shock. "How did you know how to do that?"

"I've seen it done," Ken said. Ryo was about to say something when Henry interrupted.

"Ken…how much do you remember about Ryo?" he asked.

Ken hesitated to speak. "Everything is…coming back to me, it's true. I can remember everything."

"Ken? Ken Ichijouji? Is that you, Kenny-Boy?" Ryo asked, hardly believing his eyes.

"Hey, old friend, how are you?" Ken asked, slipping off the sunglasses with a smile.

"KEN!" Ryo shouted, hugging Ken Ichijouji fiercely. "How is my one and only best friend?"

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Rika shouted loudly. "Is this kid the real Ken Ichijouji?"

"In the flesh," Ken shrugged.

"I'm not impressed," Rika smirked.

"Finally, someone who's not fawning over me, thank you," Ken said, noticing Kenta and Kazu were gaping at him like they were a pair of sea bass. "Her friends seem to be easily impressed."

"Ryo, we have a lot of catching up to do," Ken said. Then he remembered Augumon and Veemon and what he tried to do to them when he was the Digimon Emperor. He had to apologize, say he was sorry and ask Ryo to forgive him for hurting his friends.

Ryo stared as Ken knelt before him. "Ken, get up off your knees!" Ryo said sternly. "What's going on with you? Just because I'm the Digimon King doesn't mean you have to kneel before me."

"Ryo, I'm sorry," Ken whispered.

"Ken, please get up, there's no need for you to do this!" Wormmon said, joining in Ryo's protests.

"I have to tell you how sorry I am," Ken said, his whole body shook, "I'm sorry for everything."

"What do you mean "you're sorry"? What are you talking about?" Ryo demanded. What was it that Ken could possibly be sorry about? Then Ryo remembered. The TV show. He'd watched it, and in seeing Ken's origin episode "Genesis of Evil" it had helped him regain some of his own lost memories after he had crossed from the other universe where the Digidestined lived, losing many of his memories of Ken and the other Digidestined.

Seeing the show had brought all those memories back and he also knew about Ken being the Digimon Emperor. Part of him had been angry, the other part of him felt disappointed. Ken had been such a good person, and his best friend, it had torn him up inside to see the evil things his best friend had done. He had felt anger and rage when he had watched Ken try to enslave Veemon and how he had forced his friend Augumon to dark digivolve into SkullGreymon.

Ryo had watched Ken's fall from grace and his triumphant return to his true self, as tragic as his origins were. Ryo couldn't help but wonder if he had been there if Ken would have become the Digimon Emperor.

"Ken you don't have to say you're sorry. You never did anything to me as the Digimon Emperor," Ryo placed a hand on his best friend's shoulder.

"But I did, I hurt your friends Augumon and Veemon. Augumon had been your temporary partners when you fought Millenniummon the first time and Veemon was your second partner when we fought Millenniummon the second time. I tried to hurt both your friends and in a way I hurt you even though you weren't there. I'm sorry, Ryo." Ken stared down at the floor.

"Ken, I accept your apology, now get up before I die of embarrassment," Ryo scolded, pulling Ken to his feet.

"Well, when you put it like that, Ryo," Ken said, standing to his feet. The former Boy Genius clapped a hand on Ryo's shoulder.

"What have you been doing here for so long anyway?" he asked.

"Saving the world, what else?" Ryo laughed. "My life is…different now."

"So I heard from Guilmon," Ken nodded, the explanation was…adequate, still, things felt awkward between them.

"So, how is everyone?" Ryo asked.

"As in 'everyone,' do you refer to the other Digidestined?" Ken asked.

"Yes, how are they?" Ryo repeated.

"They're fine," Ken replied. "They've been busy researching the Digital World lately…Oh, man, I completely forgot about Izzy's e-mail!"

He removed his D-3 from his pocket and checked it for new messages. There was another message from Izzy, and this one was urgent.

Ken,

The Digital World is in danger! Daemon has escaped from the Dark Ocean somehow. We need you to back here now. We've been searching for you all day. Please R.SV.P.

Izzy

"What does it say?" Takato asked.

"Daemon's escaped the Dark Ocean, the others need me to come back, and they've been searching for me, except…I don't know how to go home."

"Don't worry about it, Ken. We'll leave straight away tomorrow," Takato said. "We just have to tell our teacher Ms. Asaji and let Yamaki know what's going on."

"Okay," Ken said.

"It'll be just like old times!" Ryo laughed. "Nobody's gonna be able to beat us, Ken. I wonder if the others remember me."

"They do, Ryo. And they've had you declared dead," Ken said. Ryo was shocked.

"Dead? They declared me dead?" Ryo asked, stunned.

"Well, you haven't exactly been present for three years," Ken said.

"I know, it's just…when I defeated ZeedMillenniummon, my partner Monodramon, forced a DNA Digivolution between himself and ZeedMillenniummon, that's why I had to stay in this dimension, so I could control him. It was too dangerous to take him anywhere else."

"Is that why Cyberdramon growls constantly and attacks whatever moves? Because of Millenniummon?" Henry asked.

"Yes," Ryo said. "It's kinda scary because, Millenniummon was supposed to be my partner."

"Yeah, I know, I've played the games," Henry said.

"So troops, our plan of action is to go save Ken and Ryo's dimension is to leave at 0-600 hours tomorrow, with the permission of our teachers, parents and Yamaki, it's time to go save the world…again!"

Takato stood up and held his D-Power high. "On to the Digital World!"

Everyone raised their hand up, holding their D-Powers up beside him. Ken even joined in, holding his D-3. "Yeah!" they all shouted. Ken smiled; he couldn't wait to go home.